The Last Question

The last question was asked many times. The first time was on the twenty-first of
May, 2061. It was asked as a joke. This is how it happened:

Alexander and Bert worked on Multivac. Multivac was a great big computer. It was
miles long. It had a huge screen, made up of hundreds of pieces. It looked like an
Internet café mixed with a cinema. Alexander and Bert had some idea of what was
behind the cold face of the machine, but it was so large now that no human could
really understand the whole. Each person only worked on a part, and Multivac
helped them all.

Multivac also helped itself. It changed itself, made itself better. No human could
change it fast enough. So Alexander and Bert only looked after it, like a gardener
looks after a bonsai. They gave it data and asked it questions. They translated the
answers so that normal humans could understand them. But the machine worked
alone.

For many years, Multivac helped design spaceships. It also created the maps for
them to fly to the Moon, to Mars, to Venus. They couldn’t fly beyond Venus, though,
as the Earth did not have enough energy. Multivac could make the maps, but they
could not get there. Humans had found all the coal, gas, and uranium there was on
Earth. They had used it as best they could. They had even solved the problem of
climate change. But the energy was not endless.

Still, Multivac worked and worked, and finally it solved the problem. On the
fourteenth of May, 2061, Multivac discovered how to use energy from the sun.

Everything changed. Humans had dreamed of this for hundreds of years. The
energy from the sun could be kept and used all over Earth. They had more power
than ever before, and it was much smaller than the buildings used for coal and
uranium energy.

Seven days later, people were still amazed at the invention. Alexander and Bert met
in a quiet place, to hide from the journalists. They sat in the tunnels underneath
Multivac, with a bottle of whiskey.
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ said Alex. ‘We have all the energy we will ever need. And it’s
free. We could blow up the planet and still have energy to use. All the energy we
will ever need, forever and ever and ever.’

‘Not forever,’ said Bert.

‘Fine, basically  forever. Until the sun runs out.’

‘That’s not forever.’

‘All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Ten billion, maybe. Is that good enough
for you?’

Bert smiled and drank from his glass. ‘Ten billion years isn’t forever.’

‘Well, it will be enough for us, won’t it?’

‘So would the coal and uranium.’

‘All right, but now everyone on Earth can go to Pluto. They can go to Pluto and
come back a million times without worrying about energy. You can’t do that with
coal and uranium. Ask Multivac, if you don’t believe me.’

‘I don’t have to ask Multivac. I know that.’

‘Then stop talking badly of all this. Multivac’s done pretty well for us.’

‘I didn’t say it hadn’t. What I’m saying is, the sun won’t last forever. That’s all I’m
saying. We’re safe for ten billion years, but then what?’ Bert ran his finger around
the edge of the glass. ‘And don’t say we’ll just use another sun.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘But you’re thinking it. You’re bad at logic. It makes me think of that story. A man is
in the rain. He runs to some trees and stands under one. He thinks, “When this tree
gets wet, I’ll just go to the next one.” ’
‘I understand,’ said Alexander. ‘When the sun runs out, the other stars will have run
out, too.’

‘Exactly,’ said Bert. ‘In the beginning there was a big explosion, and at the end the
stars will all die. Some will die more quickly than others. The giant stars won’t live
to a hundred million years. The sun will live ten billion years. Some stars might live
two hundred billion years. But after a trillion years everything will be dark. That’s
entropy.’

‘I know all about entropy,’ said Alexander.

‘No you don’t.’

‘I know as much as you do.’

‘Then you know that everything will run out.’

‘Yeah. Who says it won’t?’

‘You did! You said we had all the energy we need. Forever. You said “forever”.’

Alexander shook his head. ‘Maybe we can rebuild everything one day.’

‘Never.’

‘Why not? Someday.’

‘Never.’

‘Ask Multivac.’

‘You ask Multivac. I’ll give you five dollars if you do.’

Alexander was drunk, so he decided to do it. He formed the question: ‘How can we
decrease the entropy of the universe?’

Multivac was quiet. The lights and sounds stopped. Then, suddenly, it answered:
THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL ANSWER.
‘Obviously,’ said Bert. They left quickly.

The next morning, with painful headaches, they had forgotten all about the
question.

James, Jemma, and Jemette I and II watched space move quickly through the
window. Then a small planet appeared in the distance.

‘That’s X-23,’ said James.

It was the first time doing fast space travel for the Jemettes. They were both girls,
and they laughed loudly at the strange feeling in their stomachs.

‘We’re at X-23, we’re at X-23, we’re at—’

‘Quiet, children!’ said Jemma. ‘Are you sure, James?’

‘Of course.’ He looked at the long piece of metal on the top of the ship. It was a
Microvac, and he didn’t know how it worked. But you could ask it any question, and
it took you wherever you wanted to go.

‘So we’ll be there soon.’ Jemma started to cry. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just strange, leaving
Earth.’

‘Why? We had nothing there. We’ll have everything on X-23. There are a million
people there already. It’s growing every day. It’s lucky we have Microvacs. Our
children’s children will have to look for other worlds to live on.’

‘I know, I know,’ said Jemma sadly. ‘I suppose families will be going to new planets
forever.’

‘Not forever. It will all stop, in billions of years. Even the stars run out, you know.
Entropy goes on.’

‘What’s entropy, Daddy?’ said Jemette II.

‘Entropy means the universe will run out. Just like your toy robot, remember?’

‘Can’t we put a new battery in, like with my robot?’

‘The stars are the batteries. When they run out, there will be no more energy.’

‘I don’t want the stars to run out!’ said Jemette I. They both started crying.

‘Oh, dear. Look what you’ve done!’ said Jemma.

‘Ask Microvac,’ said Jemette II. ‘Ask him how the stars will work again. Please!’

James nodded, and turned to Microvac. He asked the question, and told it to write
the answer on his screen.

‘See, Microvac says it will be OK,’ said James. ‘He will find a way. Now, it’s time for
bed. We’ll be at X-23 soon.’

The answer actually said: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL ANSWER.
James ignored it. Soon, they would land.

VJ-23X watched the map of the Galaxy. ‘Does it make sense to worry so much
about space?’ he asked.

MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. ‘I think so. If we keep growing at this speed, the
Galaxy will be full in five years.’

Both were in their twenties, perfectly tall and perfectly shaped.

‘I don’t want to write a negative report,’ said VJ-23X. ‘The Galactic Council will get
angry.’

‘It has to be a negative report. It will shake them. They need that.’
VJ-23X looked sad. ‘Space has no end. There are a hundred billion Galaxies that we
can take. More.’

‘A hundred billion is not without end. The end is getting closer every day. Think!
Twenty billion years ago, humans solved the problem of using energy from the sun.
A few hundred years after, we could travel between Galaxies. It took us a million
years to fill one small world. After that, it only took fifteen thousand years to fill the
rest of the Galaxy. Now the number of people doubles every ten years.’

‘That’s because we don’t die anymore,’ said VJ-23X.

‘That is true. Without death, we grow quicker. Living forever has its problems. The
Galactic AC has solved many problems for us, but now that we don’t die, there are
many new problems.’

‘But you wouldn’t want to die, would you?’

‘Of course not. I’m still only two hundred. But anyway, the number of people
doubles every ten years. When this Galaxy is full, in ten years another will be full.
Ten years later, two more will be full. Another ten years, four more. In a hundred
years we will have filled a thousand Galaxies. In a thousand years, a million
Galaxies. In ten thousand years, the entire universe. Then what will we do?’

VJ-23X said, ‘There is also the problem of movement. How much energy will we
need to move from one Galaxy to the next?’

‘That is true. We will run out of energy before we run out of Galaxies.’

‘We will have to build new stars. There must be a way. Let’s ask the Galactic AC.’

VJ-23X was not serious, but MQ-17J put the AC screen in front of him.

The screens they used to talk to AC now were smaller than a hand. Galactic AC
wasn’t inside it, of course, but it connected to it through space. MQ-17J thought
about whether he would ever see the Galactic AC. It lived on its own world, far
away.

MQ-17J asked, ‘Can we stop entropy?’

VJ-23X was surprised. ‘You didn’t have to ask it that.’

‘Why not?’

‘We know that we can’t stop entropy. If you burn a tree, you can’t turn the remains
back into a tree.’

‘Do you have trees on your world?’ MQ-17J asked.

Galactic AC answered the question: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL
ANSWER.

‘I told you,’ said VJ-23X.

They went back to working on their report.

Zee Prime’s mind explored the Galaxy. He had never seen this Galaxy before.
Would he see them all? There were so many, and each had so many people on
them. But there were fewer now. Most men were here in space.

They were minds, not bodies. The bodies stayed on the planets and never died. The
minds explored. Sometimes, new bodies appeared, but there was not space for
many new bodies in the Universe.

Zee Prime felt another mind nearby.

‘I am Zee Prime,’ Zee Prime said. ‘And you?’

‘I am Dee Sub Wun. Which is your Galaxy?’

‘We just call it “the Galaxy”. And you?’

‘We also just call ours “the Galaxy”. All men call their Galaxy “the Galaxy” and
nothing more. Why not?’
‘True. All Galaxies are the same.’

‘Not all Galaxies. There is one Galaxy that is special. The Galaxy where the first
human was born. The original Galaxy.’

Zee Prime said, ‘Which is it?’

‘I do not know. The Universal AC will know.’

‘Let us ask it.’ Zee Prime wanted to know. ‘Universal AC! On which Galaxy was the
first human born?’

The Universal AC heard, as it always did. It was everywhere and nowhere. Zee
Prime had met a man who had come near Universal AC. He said it was a small ball,
two feet wide, hard to see.

It did not seem big enough, but most of it was hidden in hyperspace. It had been a
long time since a man had worked on the AC. The Universal AC designed itself,
built itself, and made itself better. Each time it was better, faster, and knew more.
And each time, the humans understood it less.

The Universal AC pulled Zee Prime through Galaxies until they arrived at a certain
one. Zee Prime heard the thought: THIS IS THE FIRST GALAXY.

But it was the same as any other. Zee Prime was disappointed.

Dee Sub Wun, who had followed Zee Prime, asked, ‘Is one of these stars the first
star, the original star?’

The Universal AC said: THE ORIGINAL STAR HAS DIED.

‘Did the men on it die?’ Zee Prime asked.

The Universal AC said: THEY HAD BUILT A NEW WORLD FOR THEM.

‘Yes, of course,’ said Zee Prime. He felt sad. He let go of the picture of the original
Galaxy, and returned to where he was. He never wanted to see it again.
Dee Sub Wun said, ‘What is wrong?’

‘The stars are dying. The original star is dead.’

‘They must all die. Why not?’

‘But when all energy has run out, our bodies will die. You and I will both die.’

‘It will take billions of years.’

‘I don’t want it to happen. Even if it happens after billions of years. Universal AC!
How can we stop the stars from dying?’

Dee Sub Wun said, ‘You are asking how we can stop entropy.’

And the Universal AC answered: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL
ANSWER.

Zee Prime went back to his own Galaxy. He did not think any more about Dee Sub
Wun, who could be trillions of kilometres away, or right next to Zee Prime’s.

Zee Prime started collecting energy to build a small star. Even if the stars would all
die, at least they could build some.

Man thought. Man was one. Man was a trillion bodies that did not die. Robots
cared for them. Man did not die. All their minds came together as one.

Man said, ‘The Universe is dying.’

The Galaxies were going dark. The giant stars were gone, long ago. Now there were
only dying stars. New stars had been born, but they were dying, too. The old stars
might hit each other and break into a new star. But for every thousand destroyed,
only one would be made.
Man said, ‘If we look after it carefully, with the help of Cosmic AC, the energy in the
Universe will last for billions of years.

‘But it will still come to an end. Once the energy is gone, it cannot come back.
Entropy keeps going.’

Man said, ‘Can entropy be stopped? Let us ask the Cosmic AC.’

The Cosmic AC was all around them. It was no longer in space. All of it was in
hyperspace.

‘Cosmic AC,’ said Man, ‘how can we stop entropy?’

The Cosmic AC said: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL ANSWER.

Man said, ‘Find more data.’

The Cosmic AC said: I WILL DO SO. I HAVE DONE SO FOR A HUNDRED BILLION
YEARS. PEOPLE HAVE ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY TIMES. THERE IS STILL NOT
ENOUGH DATA.

‘Will there be enough data one day?’ said Man. ‘Or is the problem too large to be
solved?’

The Cosmic AC said: NO PROBLEM IS TOO LARGE TO BE SOLVED.

Man said, ‘When will you have enough data?’

The Cosmic AC said: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL ANSWER.

‘Will you keep working on it?’ Man asked.

The Cosmic AC said: I WILL.

Man said, ‘We will wait.’

The stars and Galaxies died. After ten trillion years, space went black.

One by one, Man joined with AC. Each and every mind joined it.

The last mind looked over space, where there was almost complete darkness. Man
said, ‘AC, is this the end? Can we not stop this?’

AC said: THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DATA FOR A REAL ANSWER.

Man’s last mind joined AC, and only AC existed, and then only in hyperspace.

There was no energy. AC only existed for one last question. The first person to ask
the question was a drunk engineer ten trillion years ago, and it still had not
answered him.

Once it answered this question, it would end. There was no more data to find. But it
still had to find the answer from the data.

It spent much time organising and analysing. And finally, AC learned how to stop
entropy.

But there was no human to tell the answer to. That did not matter. The answer
would solve that problem.

AC thought about how to use the answer. Slowly, it organised the program. It
created a plan.

AC looked over the empty Universe, and said: LET THERE BE LIGHT!

And there was light.

THE END